I marvel this at freshome.com and it’s quite mind-boggling. Here goes:

According to the less alarming forecasts of the GIEC (Intergovernmental group on the evolution of the climate), the ocean level should rise from 20 to 90 cm during the 21st Century with a status quo by 50 cm (versus 10 cm in the 20th Century). As a solution to this alarming problem architect Vincent Callebaut came up with this ecotectural marvel that could serve as a luxurious future retreat for 50,000 inhabitants seeking refuge from rising waters due to global warming. He believes the world will be desperately seeking shelter from the devastations of climate change, and hopes the auto-sufficient amphibious city will serve as a luxurious solution. To bad that right now we are close to 7 billion people and this luxurious future retreat is just for 50,000 inhabitants ( just for rich people ).

Vincent Callebaut called this project “Lilypad“, but this ecotectural marvel is also called as “Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees”. The whole structure is covered in green walls and roofs, the top portion covered in grasses with the inner portion featuring a palm oasis, and the under portion serving as a bed for natural sea planktons and oceanic plants. Finally if you were already planning to reserve a place to this luxurious future retreat stay calm, because Vincent Callebaut hopes that “Floating Ecopolis for Climate Refugees” will make the transition from design to reality around the year 2100

The atmosphere at Ming’s has all the usual ambience of any Chinese take-outs that you would normally see anywhere, but when it comes to the foods… well that’s where it really stands out. Before we get into this, I must have you to know that I usually judge every Chinese restaurants by their General Tso chicken, which happens to be one of my favorite Chinese’s americanized dishes, and allow ’em one-upping each other. As of now, the best General Tso chicken is to be found on the Ming’s menu.

I really really hate it when a wok chef gets the General Tso chicken completely drowned with heavy General Tso sauce, which continue its onslaught over much of the steamed or fried rice that almost always come with the meal. When that happens, the flavor of General Tso sauce can get really overwhelming and losing its balancing flavors. As a frequent customer to the Ming’s, you don’t have to fear it that much.

At Ming’s, they only add enough General Tso sauce for the chicken to retain its own crispiness. Just enough to be eaten in all of its entirety without needing steamed rice to counter the overwhelming flavor of General Tso sauce. I guess it’s only a matter of personal preference whether they be drowned or not. Nothing wrong with that, but if you decide to indulge yourself with a real treat of crispy General Tso chicken, then I highly recommend Ming’s, which has so far one-upped all.

When a close friend of mine, Paul Guo, blogged this quiz about what your political Chinese stances are at his website, it got me piqued with curious to see where I stand in Chinese politic. I took Contemporary Chinese Politics course at Rochester Institute of Technology with Mr. Guo and I learned a lot from this course. (Being a Korean-American myself and Mr. Guo, of course, knew plenty cuz he’s Chinese.. that’s why I said, “I” learned, not “we”) It has really opened my eyes to see Chinese politics in a new light. All of my preconceived notions about it was thrown out of the window. A lot of events in their long history could’ve been a turning point had it gone the other way. I could see a point where U.S. could’ve had a great chance to turn China into one of its greatest allies, but decided to focus elsewhere when Chinese government system was in the middle of its experimental stage. Ah well, that’s too bad.

Anyway, here goes my political Chinese stance. The result is I’m pretty moderate, so that means I’m a Middle General. According to Paul Guo’s blog: “Apparently, Old General equals Rightist, Middle General equals Moderate, Young General equals Leftists…”

MITBBS – Old, Middle, Young General Political Position Quiz

I – Political position quiz (total of 14 questions, and each answer has a point value. Add together the points for the answers that you’ve selected.)

1. How do you see the Communist Party?
C: Communist Party’s governance really does have numerous problems; some are being fixed, but for now at least others are not. (+0)

2. How do you see the Chinese government?
C: A government that’s in the process of adopting very slow changes, but no one is clear on where these changes will ultimately lead. (0)

3. How would you evaluate the government’s method of using force to repress the 6/4 incident?
C: The riots of course had to be stopped, but they could have used gentler methods. (+0)

4. How would you evaluate the government and students role in 6/4?
C: Very difficult to say. It’s a tragedy that we should try to put behind us. (+0

5. How would you evaluate Mao Zedong?
B: Like Deng Xiaoping said, he had accomplishments and mistakes, but the accomplishments out-weigh his mistakes. (+1)

6. How do you perceive the United States of America?
C: Discarding all ideologies, there are many things we can learn from the United States. At least China and the United States shouldn’t be directly opposed to each other. (+0)

7. What do you think US foreign policy is?
C: Although it’s partly motivated by its own interests (at times in a very ugly way), but it still plays a role in defending universal liberal values. (+0)

8. How do you see the Taiwan problem?
D: We should respect the choice of the Taiwanese; after all, the People’s Republic of China and the Republic of China have equivalent stature. (-1)

9. How do you see the democracy question, when it comes to China?
C: From a long term view, the Chinese people needs democracy to restrain the governments’ power. But this is an issue for the Chinese people, and has nothing to do with the West. (+0)

10. How do you perceive the speech and reporting done by the Southern Metropolis media group?(editor’s note: Crusading newspaper + magazine in Guangzhou that both critics and supporters are willing to call China’s CNN, but for very different reasons. Accused of being overly critical in the aftermath of the Sichuan earthquake)
C: Nothing wrong with what they’re saying, but the timing isn’t appropriate. (+0)

11. How do you see the Carrefour boycott?
C: Hard to say; a boycott itself isn’t very rationally, but it really has let the world hear the voice of the Chinese people. (+0)

12: How do you see the role of international rescue squads in the Sichuan earthquake?
C: The current solution is the best way: open up the roads, and then let them come in and help. (+0)

13. How do you see the proposed “nationalization” of the military?
(editor’s note: The People’s Liberation Army is currently under the direct control and leadership of the Communist Party; some have discussed making it a non-political force that serves a “civilian” government directly. Similar to Taiwan’s situation up until a few years ago.)
C: It’s a good idea in theory, but the conditions for this aren’t quite ripe. (+0)

14. How do you see the Cultural Revolution?
C: We’ll have to let history decide; we don’t know enough right now. (+0)

II. Point adjustments (please multiply the appropriate value to the sum total from the first section)

1. What kind of labels have been attached to you (during online discussions)?
C: I’m very low-key, no one has ever labeled me. (Multiply your score by 1)

2. How do you see those who disagree with you?
C: We have different perspectives, but I can discuss issues with some in their group. (Multiply your score by 1)

This hermit blogger here will be making a-comeback to the blogosphere after a 2 years hiatus. Where have I been? Well, let me just say that lot has happened since then and has been absorbed by it. I won’t be bothering you with mundane details, really it’s mostly mundane stuff honestly (blah! I’m using too many adverbs here, please don’t mind ’em or my faulty grammar for that matter either). Already a self-depreciating, am I huh?

Anyhoo, let me start off with some topics that might catch your fancy. I could start off with some Asian-themed topics simply because I am simply an Asian guy. I could do the food blog here because I absolutely relish every good foods. I could even try to garner a traffic into here by being more controversial blogger, but nah, I couldn’t dare to do that because it’s not me. I’m sure that by time you’re reading this, you’re probably getting to the point where you’re saying, “come on, what’s your point? you’re mumbling nonesense…” You’re probably right, I am. And I won’t waste any more of your precious time and get right to the point. The point is I don’t even know where to begin.

Ah! I could even do some words playing like this, “my tennis racket slices through the air, rams the poor fuzzy yellow ball over the fence and shaving its fuzzy hair as it hits the court floor at the speed of sound…” How’s that? Nah? Okay hmm.

Sorry guys, I attempt to be a coherent blogger with a pathetic effort to impress those who even care. Thank you for staying with me until the end of this blog. I shall do my best to keep your curious mind fanciful with my amusement. I think I shall do mostly Asian and Food (sometime both at the same time) blogging from now on. Hm.. ah and the movies as well. I love a good lively debate.